Mobile phone shops across Karachi have been instructed not to buy used phones from people with non-Karachi postal addresses on their computerized national identity cards (CNICs).
Karachi Electronics Dealers Association (KEDA) has adopted new SOPs in consultation with Karachi Police and Citizen-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC), says KEDA President Rizwan Irfan. The SOPs effectively mean that you need a Karachi CNIC to sell a used phone on the markets across the city, says Irfan.
However, the SOPs go beyond the verification of CNIC. The shopkeepers buying used phones will also verify if the device being sold has been reported stolen to the CPLC. If a phone turns out to be stolen, the seller would be handed over to the police.
Even after a seller passes the CNIC and CPLC verifications, they will be asked to provide their verified phone number to the shopkeeper buying the used device. The shopkeepers have been instructed to maintain all the relevant records of their purchases. The new SOPs have already taken effect. They were first laid out in 2016 but this time they are being enforced by Karachi Police, says the KEDA president adding that the measures apply to packed new phones as well.
The repair services across the city have also been instructed to first verify the ownership of phones before changing a chip and performing a similar repair. Karachi hosts a large number of skilled and unskilled workers from other cities, who live in the metropolis for work.
While many Karachi citizens have welcomed the decision, the workers from other cities say it has compounded their problems as they won’t be able to replace their old phone with a new one.
